Center for Community-Engaged Teaching and Research

The Center for Community-Engaged Teaching and Research (CETR) supports community-engaged teaching, learning, and research that promote knowledge creation, civic development, and community transformation.

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Looking to Further Community Engagement, Duquesne Names New CETR Director.Duquesne University has named Dr. Jessica Mann as its director for the Center for Community-Engaged Teaching and Research (CETR). The center supports teaching, learning and research projects that promote civic development and community transformation. “The University’s new Strategic Plan places engagement with the community front and center in new and exciting ways,” said Dr. Timothy Austin, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Duquesne. “Dr. Mann has roots both at Duquesne and in Pittsburgh. This, combined with her experience in developing community-engaged teaching and research at Seton Hill University, equips her well to lead CETR’s contributions to our community engagement efforts.” A Duquesne alumna, Mann will oversee all CETR activities at Duquesne. The center supports faculty, students and community partners in several ways, including equipping faculty to practice innovative teaching and research techniques, facilitating connections between faculty and community groups and creating opportunities for students to gain leadership experience by supporting classes taught using CETR. Mann comes to Duquesne from Seton Hill University, where she served as associate dean for student engagement and deputy Title IX coordinator. She managed Seton Hill’s Office of Student Engagement, where she oversaw the organization’s key initiatives and developed and implemented their strategic plan. While there, Mann worked with faculty and community agency partners to implement co-curricular programs that enhanced the educational experience for students while serving the larger Greensburg community. “Duquesne’s commitment, as an institution, to create and sustain meaningful partnerships in order to positively impact the region, enhance research surrounding local and global concerns, and engage students as agents of change is truly exceptional,” Mann said. “I am honored to return to Duquesne to aid in such initiatives and lead the CETR team.” Mann holds a doctorate degree in administrative and policy studies-higher education management from the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication from Duquesne and a bachelor’s degree in media and professional communication from the University of Pittsburgh. She will begin her position with Duquesne on Dec. 1.

Dr. Eva-Maria Simms, Adrian van Kaam Professor of Psychology, gave a talk in cooperation with the Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research (CIQR) and the Day for Learning and Speaking Out (DLSO).Place, Violence, Resilience: Community-Engaged Research in Urban Neighborhoods This talk will introduce the practice of thinking human experience from the perspective of place by discussing an outbreak of violence in Pittsburgh's African-American neighborhoods and the decades long consequences for local residents. Place allows for a multifaceted view of human life that reveals the practices of systemic racism experienced by individuals related to each other by virtue of their shared space. Dr. Simms will be joined by other PlaceLab and community members in a discussion of the challenges, the lessons learned, and the hope for place-based, community-engaged research.

Duquesne and Community Leaders Collaborate to Enhance EngagementDuquesne's Center for Community-Engaged Teaching and Research (CETR) has enlisted local community leaders as part of its new planning process to strengthen the University's relationships in and involvement with Pittsburgh's neighborhoods. The project was made possible by an anonymous grant. Community leaders including Grant Ervin, chief resiliency officer for the City of Pittsburgh, Bill Generett, president and CEO of Urban Innovation 21 and Sunanna Chand, learning innovation strategist of Remake Learning are among those who've been tapped by CETR to collaborate with Duquesne administrators, faculty and staff to identify which of the University's significant assets and resources can be even better matched with the concerns and needs of the surrounding neighborhoods. Additional community members on the committee include Rod Harris, deputy director of Community Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for the Allegheny County Health Department, and Terri Baltimore, vice president of neighborhood development for the Hill House Association. "Duquesne University has a long tradition of meaningful and sustained community involvement, flowing from our Spiritan founders' Catholic mission," said Duquesne President Ken Gormley. "We are thrilled to launch this new initiative, taking advantage of the expertise of top community leaders to widen the reach of the University's impact and service here in the local Pittsburgh community." CETR supports community-engaged teaching, learning, and research that promote knowledge creation, civic development and community transformation. The Center supports and facilitates partnerships and activities among faculty, students and community partners with the aim of positively impacting the community. "I have seen first-hand the power and promise of Duquesne University's successful community engagement efforts. These efforts have and continue to increase the quality of life of some of our region's most vulnerable communities," said Gennerett. "Urban Innovation21 is just one small example of the many community-based efforts that would not have happened without the University's support. As the Pittsburgh region's economy continues to grow its economy, we must accelerate our work to make sure our most vulnerable communities are not left behind. Through this strategic planning process, I am excited to help CETR build upon the University's solid community engagement foundation." Representatives from Duquesne's Offices of the President, Mission and Identity, and Research, as well as the Center for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Advancement, deans and the University's endowed chairs in mission and global competitiveness will participate in the project. The committee will be led by a team of external consultants that includes Nancy Franklin of Franklin Solutions; Jamillia Kamara formerly of Public Allies; and Megan Good, formerly of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. "Together, this team of consultants understands the national landscape of community engagement practices within higher education and has intimate knowledge of the assets and strengths found within Pittsburgh's communities," explained Dr. Lina Dostilio, director of CETR. Duquesne University has a rich history of serving the region, its people and community partners through initiatives such as the Tribone Center for Clinical Legal Education and its eight community clinics; the Duquesne University Pharmacy in the Hill District; and the Community-Based Health and Wellness Center for Older Adults, among others. The University continues to be one of the nation's select institutions to receive the prestigious Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's Community Engagement Classification because of its engagement with neighborhood communities through teaching, research, student volunteerism, economic development involvement, and public-serving centers and institutes. The committee, which meets for the first time in August, will work on the planning process through June 2017.

The Center for CETR Receives Planning GrantThe Center for CETR received $10,000 from an anonymous donor for the planning, strategizing, and implementation of community-engaged teaching and research efforts.

2016-2017 Gaultier Fellows AnnouncedThe Center for Community-Engaged Teaching and Research (CETR) has announced its 2016-2017 Gaultier Community-Engaged Teaching Fellowship class. The new Gaultier Fellows are Dr. Melanie Turk, associate professor in the School of Nursing, and Dr. Emad Mirmotahari, associate professor of English in the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts. The Gaultier Fellows work closely with Duquesne instructors and students by sharing successful community-engaged teaching strategies and best practices, and by serving as strong advocates for the benefits that the University’s community-engaged programs provide.

Duquesne faculty Wins Western Pennsylvania Environmental AwardEd Schroth (Environmental Studies), one of the most popular and influential environmental educators in Western Pennsylvania for the past 50 years, will be honored with the 2015 Western Pennsylvania Environmental Award, announced today by Dominion and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC). Mr. Schroth will accept the award at the Western Pennsylvania Environmental Awards Dinner and Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 26, 2016, at the Westin Convention Center Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. The award is presented by Dominion and PEC for leadership, effectiveness, and results in making an impact on the environment and includes a $5,000 donation. Schroth is best-known as a teacher of biology, water ecology and environmental science at Quaker Valley High School, and later at Duquesne University. At Quaker Valley, he started the “Up the Creek Gang,” a project where students studied the ecology of Little Sewickley Creek and its watershed. He later teamed with the China Association for Science and Technology to take high school students in to Beijing and Qingdao China for environmental studies three times. This China partnership continued when he took Duquesne University science majors on four more trips. Through his passion for environmental education and his unique teaching style, students received first hand experience at data collection and measurements. As a leader in service learning at Duquesne University, he has set the standard for student-community engagement with such organizations as the Allegheny Land Trust, the Little Sewickley Creek Watershed, The Ballpark Urban Farm, and others. All entries were judged on the basis of their relevance to local environmental priorities,evidence of their impact on the environment, their approach to solving an environmental problem, and the environmental benefit of their work.

Duquesne faculty has been named The Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) Mead Leadership Fellow for her community-engaged scholarshipLucia Osa-Melero's (Modern Languages and Literatures) community-engaged project is entitled "Niños y niñas bilingues y biculturales." Osa-Melero's spanish language students deliver a 3-week program on basic vocabulary, geography, history, and contrastive cultural features of Spanish-speaking countries for mainly monolingual English-speaking children, ages 3 to 5 attending preschool.The NECTFL Mead Leadership Fellowship provides support an individual in the development of a project that contributes to the foreign language teaching profession and advances quality language instruction.

Essay in Chronicle of Higher Education Highlights shift from Service-Learning to a more collaborative form of engagementToday's Chronicle of Higher Education included a commentary about a collaborative orientation to community engagement that is very similar to the kind being promoted within Duquesne's new model of community-engaged learning, especially at the foundational level. The commentary explores positioning students as listeners. The author, Stephanie Bower, suggests: "Our course takes a different approach. We position students as listeners rather than experts, and community partners as holders of knowledge rather than as objects of charity or study. Such reversals destabilize the assumptions that enable students to view those on the outside as inferior or undeserving. They suggest, too, another path for service learning, one premised on reciprocity and self-reflection, rooted in a commitment to look at the world through the eyes of those disadvantaged by it. If we expand our repertory of service-learning projects to include collaboration as well as the more traditional tutoring and volunteering, what new types of learning might we discover?"

CETR Faculty Writing GroupIn the Murphy Building Conference Room throughout the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters between the hours of 8:30AM-4:30PM by request. Please call (412) 396-5893 to check availability and reserve the space.

Revising Classes for Community-Engaged LearningPreparing to Submit Proposals for Designation Wednesday, January 31st from 3:00:pm to 4:30pm, Room 608 Student Union This workshop will review the University's model of community-engaged learning and attendees will break into small groups wherein they will work on the classes they would like to submit for the FCEL (foundational community-engaged learning) or ACEL (advanced community-engaged learning) course designations.

FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM FILM SERIES: In Black and White Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 5:30PM to 8:00PM“In Black and White,” a film in two parts, features the works and interviews with two contemporary literary giants – August Wilson and John Edgar Wideman. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson feels his plays on black history originated in “the blood’s memory,” whereas John Edgar Wideman draws on his own family’s experiences to explore the painful contradictions of contemporary black life. This program will be held at the Homewood Branch of the Carnegie Library. For more event information, please click this link

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION: NIGHT OF A THOUSAND STARS! Thursday,October 19, 2017 - 5:30PMThis year the Brashear Association celebrates 100 years of service to families in South Pittsburgh. A Centennial Gala will be held Thursday, October 19th at the Heinz History Center. The event will begin at 5:30pm, and dinner will begin at 7:00. For more event information, please click this link

Misty Copeland: Discussion and Book Signing - Sunday, September 24, 2017 - 2:00PM-5:00PMPlease come and enjoy a discussion and book signing at the Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium @ the Kaufmann Center with Misty Copeland, the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre! FOR MORE DETAILS, PLEASE CLICK HERE

RealAbilities: Film Festival on the South Side September 6 – 13, 2017The ReelAbilities Film Festival presents award-winning films that promote awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of individuals with disabilities. Through impactful films and engaging programs, this festival brings together the community to explore and celebrate the diversity of our shared experiences. ReelAbilities is a program of Film Pittsburgh. PLEASE SEE EVENT DETAILS HERE

Come celebrate the launch of the Latino Community Center!Head downtown to celebrate the launch of the much anticipated Latino Community Center where you'll learn more about the services of the Center & hear from community members about what this new venture means to the region. PLEASE SEE EVENT DETAILS HERE

Whether you're 8 months or 80 years, there's a summer full of fun/free/fantastic events coming your way this summer!New this year, we're excited to announce a full calendar of events for August Wilson Park made possible by the Elsie and Henry Hillman Summer Program and thanks to our many community partners. Kick off a full summer of park fun at August Wilson Park with us: Saturday, July 8th, 2-4pm. Bring the whole family out for fun, free activities like yard games, live animal demonstrations, craft-making, and refreshments. Please share this with your networks, friends and families! This is an all-ages, rain-or-shine event. We hope to see you there! PLEASE SEE FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS HERE

Homeless Children's Education FundAt this performance art installation, volunteers stand in silence for 15 minutes to represent the now 3,000 children identified as homeless in Allegheny County. This art piece will be held on Academic Walk on Duquesne's campus on April, 25th. More Information Here

Full 2017-2018 CETR Events Schedule

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